The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c14.128

c14.128

To discharge these all-embracing functions, Kauṭalya prescribes for the state a corresponding administrative organization. For the king, the centre of the centre, he frames a detailed timetable, which, besides private wants, is to be filled with deliberations on state affairs, administrative plans, review of finance and revenue, inspection of the cavalry, the elephant force, the armoury, etc., supervision of spies, receptions, etc.³ By the way, the king’s harem should stand on a site as secure as possible, should be protected with a parapet and a moat, should consist of many compartments but should be provided with a single gate Inside, a few very old men and eunuchs excepted, all the guards, attendants and servants were to be females, a few of them, prostitutes. The strictest watch should be kept over all “coming and going.”⁴ Polygamy seems to have produced an atmosphere of suspicion and conspiracy within the palace, which, coupled with treason abroad, led to an extraordinary system of watch and guard. Trusted Amazons should attend the king from room to room. Science should exert its utmost skill and lay down minute rules for the detection of poison, etc.⁵ The same harem influences seem to have complicated the problem of the succession. There was backstaris intrigue, conspiracy and treason. Kauṭalya talks of disaffected princes being put under lock and key, of plots hatched to secure their release, of the plans being discovered, of the culprits flying into exile. If a prince broke into revolt, kingship knew no kinship, says Kauṭalya. He might be slaughtered like the meanest bondman. Schools of real politics discussed with heartless ingenuity when and how far kings and princes could desert, deceive and slaughter one another or how young princes might be lled into luxury and vice to keep them from treason.¹